Things are a bit different up here this year. Normally at this time of the year it is just me and a few blokes. Not a woman in sight. So you can imagine how excited I am that my family are up here for my Birthday and Christmas. It is so lovely to have my sister here to drink wine with and DD doesn’t mind the odd Japanese Slipper. Ok, so she just has one and it does take her 3 hours to drink it, but she manages to finish it eventually.
I had such a lovely Birthday on Tuesday. Our main meal was nibbles, Japanese Slippers and wine… My kind of meal! It was nothing flash, no stress, just happy people drinking green drinks. I did trot out a yummy layered mexican dip.
Layered Mexican Dip
Mix one tub of sour cream with 3/4 packet of taco seasoning. Spread on bottom of dish – I use a clear quiche dish.
Mash 2 avocados and mix with 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise. Spread on top of sour cream mixture.
Finely dice 2 tomatoes, some cucumber and 4 shallots, sprinkle on top.
Finish with some grated cheese. Serve with corn chips and crackers. YOU WON’T BE SORRY!
That was the extent of my cooking. God it was good. I share my birthday with one of my dedicated readers – “Mel from Rocky” – Mel, I hope you had a fantastic day. Hope you had a Japanese Slipper and if you didn’t then…. Here is the Recipe:
Even the children have been behaving themselves – I know … what is going on? 5 boys and they are all having such a great time together. I am so excited that my kids have their cousins here to play with.
I was listening to the Two Fat Expats Christmas Podcast special yesterday and it seems life on an outback cattle station is a lot like life as an expat. I could totally relate to so many of the people they interviewed. I normally get a little down around this time of the year. On Christmas Day when I talk on the phone to my family I usually end up in tears wishing I was with them all. It takes most of the expats a LONG TIME to fly home to family and it takes me 3 days to drive home to family, or if I were to fly it would be a good 2 days – drive to town and then fly. Much of a muchness I reckon, just call me an Expat please. ha ha ha. If you are looking for a new podcast, give them a go. It is one of my favourites.
Right…. time to get my Christmas on. To the kitchen I go. Christmas Menu is looking like this:
Turkey Breast – hot
Baked Ham
Pumpkin, Philly & Cashew salad
Potato Salad
Coleslaw
Garden Salad
DD’s Trifle
Pavlova
PERFECT!!! There should be loads of left overs too. Oh and we will be kicking off with a retro prawn cocktail for breakfast with croissants and bubbly.
To everyone I wish you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS. I hope you all have such a wonderful time. Sending you big hugs, thanks for being such legends.
Happy birthday for Tuesday, glad you had female company to share your slippers with…be rest assured they were as excited as you about spending this week up there! Looks like we’ll have to visit again so I can try one of your famous green drinks! Happy Christmas to everyone, love Betti
Oh Betti, didn’t we give you a Slipper? What was I thinking??? Thanks for your Birthday wishes. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas… might see you in March!! xxx
Happy birthday for Tuesday Chards 😊
I miss having an outback Christmas! You best have a wine for me 😉
Can totally do that for you Nic… will have at least 3 for you!!!
Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!
Merry Christmas and best wishes for a healthy and happy new year for you and your family.
It is nice to see Denise and Rex enjoying a Japanese slipper. (Thanks for the recipe)
Greetings from Canada.
Cathy and Marco
(DD & R’ s friends)
Hi Cathy & Marco…. I often hear DD & Rexy speaking of you guys. Hope you have a lovely Christmas. Try the slipper – perhaps in the warmer weather though. 🙂
Hi Miss Chardy,
Hope you had a great day for your Birthday, have a merry Christmas. Tell mr chardy we will catch up, but in the mean time I will have a beer, wine or slipper for you down here.
regards Bourkey
Thanks Bourkey – you have a great Christmas too!!!!
Merry Christmas!!
You too lovely 🙂
There are parts of your outback life that are similar to my life as an expat – wishing you a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Have a great Christmas, always love to hear from you and what you are up to. 🙂
Merry Xmas to one n all at mittibah. Having the Camooweal orphans party at our house. Here’s to a wonderful day n a great new year xx
Oh have a great day M’Lady. Give Sir Russell a big hug from me. Don’t drink toooooo much. xxxxx
Happy Birthday! It sounds like the best type ever with family around. I hope you had a very merry Christmas. Your menu sounds amazing. Ours was roast chook with veges and mini pavs that we never got to. Having cousins around must be such a treat for your kids, no wonder they are on their best behaviour. Enjoy the New Year!
Oh Anne – the pavlova is usually dinner for us because everyone is so full after lunch aren’t they!!! My kids are back to being bored and annoying after their cousins left yesterday, so sad to see them go. They had such fun together. Hope you had a great Chrissy, sounded like you did. 🙂
Hi there, so pleased you had a great birthday with the fam!! Isn’t it great to have a set of go-to recipes to feed a crowd! I love that Mexican crowd-pleaser dip too, in mine i also add a jar of salsa & layer of refried beans (tin of). Goes well together, nom nom nom!! 😉 your xmas food sounds good too, i ate a salad with pistachios on xmas day & i was SOLD, yum- had beetroot, goats cheese greens etc! 😀hope u enjoyed Chrissy too Chards!
Hi There, great tip with the mexican dip, I am going to try that next time, I have some salsa too, should have used it. Yum the pistachios sound like a great idea too. xx
Happy New Year Miss C and clan! We didn’t see the New Year in. What pikers we are?Looks like you had a great birthday and Chrissy and lots of rain to top off a good festive season. Didn’t get to have a Japanese Slipper on my birthday as suffered from a migraine the day before and I always feel like I have been run over by truck the next day. Must be great to have your hubby home. My husband is the opposite. Now that it has rained he is very busy work wise.
Hi Mel, sorry I haven’t replied to this, had a bit of a break from the blog the past few weeks. Bummer about your migraine before your birthday – how horrible, you poor thing. Are you ready to face 2016! Happy for a fresh start?
Happy New Year, Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas – as I’ve only just discovered your wonderful blog I thought I should bundle my good wishes. I found this wonderful treasure (aka your blog) over Christmas and have been working my way through as fast as I can. It brings back so many wonderful memories of my life on a very large station in Queensland during the 80’s and 90’s. I love reading your stories and despite the 30 year time difference so many things are still very similar. The biggest change of course is probably the internet and the accessibility that brings in so many areas. It would have been wonderful to open up my inbox and find emails from family and friends, instead of (im)patiently waiting for the weekly mail delivery. Outback women belong to a special club – whilst we are comparatively low in numbers we are high in spirits and have been lucky enough to experience a lifestyle that the majority of the population can only wonder about. Thank you, thank you Miss Chardy for giving women everywhere a chance to have a front row seat in the extraordinary life of an outback woman. Here’s cheers ….. may the years ahead bring all you wish for and be filled with laugh, laughter and fun….and perhaps the odd Japanese Slipper to smooth out the rough edges x
A very big hello to you Phoebe and welcome!!!! I have goosebumps after reading your lovely message. Thank you so much for saying hello. You are so right – we do belong to a special club don’t we and yes we are certainly high in spirits! Such a wonderful community up here. Where do you live now? Sorry it has taken me a while to reply to this, I have had a little break from the blog over Christmas/New Year. Thanks again for your message.